I don't believe Doolittle, Domenici, Lugar, any of them

oh, yeah, they're running away from bush... oh, yeah, they're calling for a change in iraq policy... oh, yeah, they want u.s. troops "off the front lines as soon as possible..."

Rep. John Doolittle, a consevative California congressman, today joined others in his party rapidly deserting the president on the Iraq war.

[...]

He said U.S. troops should be pulled back from the front lines "as soon as possible" and the fighting turned over to Iraqi forces.

[...]

Earlier today, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) also called for a change in course in U.S. military strategy in Iraq — without waiting for the September report on the "surge." He joined other Republican senators as Richard Lugar who have recently broken with the White House on this issue.

note that he said "off the front lines," not "out of the country..."

talk is cheap... i'm with harry reid... put up or shut up... i don't believe that george, no matter how many repubs speak out against iraq, has the slightest intention of pulling out... we are in iraq forever... if there is a pulldown, it will be cosmetic only and simply to paper over dissent within the party... let's face it, if the number of troops added since the escalation began were pulled out tomorrow, we'd just be back where we were late last year, but the media would be falling all over itself reporting on the so-called withdrawal, and the repubs would be congratulating themselves for standing up to the president... what a gigantic crock of steaming bullshit...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

New Gonzales video by Robert Greenwald

it's a goodie...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Tough shit, Pete, suck it up... Besides, NM's a great place to retire...

hell like you've never experienced, eh...?

The Associated Press today reports on rumors that Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), one of two members of Congress in possible ethical trouble for allegedly contacting the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico to discuss grand jury proceedings, may retire. But the senator's staff pointed to the ample money he has raised as evidence he won't quit.

"Down the road, as the election comes — will questions about his health or the (U.S. attorney) story hurt his campaign?" asked University of New Mexico political science professor Lonna Atkeson in an interview with the AP.

At a recent banquet in Albuquerque, the New Mexico Republican apparently "called recent weeks 'hell' like he had never experienced his entire career."

Since an ethics complaint was filed against the senator in February for calling U.S. Attorney David Iglesias prior to the November 2006 elections and inquiring about the status of grand jury proceedings in a political fraud case, Democrats have seen an opportunity to defeat the longtime Republican senator, comparing him with Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), who was linked into the Abramoff scandal.

ya know what...? when these guys start boo-hooing, i glaze over... they've enabled the bush administration to march steadfastly down the path to a one-party, authoritarian state for 6+ years without uttering a peep to stop them... they should have thought of the consequences both for themselves and for the country they supposedly were elected to serve before they agreed to play along with criminals...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Every once in a while, Fred Hiatt tosses us a bone

big whoop, and not much of a bone either...

The Iglesias Episode

The firing of the U.S. attorney in New Mexico has not been adequately explained.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Oh, Karl... You may not get out of this one alive...

hey... a guy can hope, can't he...?

"New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici's chief of staff sent a cryptic thank-you note to Karl Rove just as the senator was recommending replacements for David Iglesias, the fired U.S. attorney in New Mexico, according to internal White House and Justice Department documents," writes Michael Isikoff.

"Thanks for everything," read the e-mail dated January 8th, 2007 and included the name of a replacement candidate for Iglesias.

The email, which was sent to Rove and two other White House officials, may have been initially overlooked because it was sent to a more obscure of Rove's e-mail accounts.

Though it is unknown why Rove was being thanked, Iglesias is convinced that the e-mail implicates Rove.

"This absolutely corroborates what I’ve been saying all along—this is a political matter, not a performance matter," Iglesias told Newsweek after being read the e-mail. "What is he thanking him [Rove] for? It's thanking him for getting Dave out of the picture."

"a more obscure of rove's e-mail accounts..." ya gotta love it...

(thanks to raw story...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Subverting the independence and objectivity of federal prosecutors is just fine

this is the kind of country our wise media pundits of the totalitarian right are working their asses off to create...

Politicians should be allowed to call federal prosecutors and question them about ongoing cases, says Weekly Standard co-founder Fred Barnes.

Referring to phone calls made by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) to US Attorney David Iglesias prior to his firing, Barnes told host Brit Hume on Fox News Special Report, "I don't think there's anything wrong with these phone calls that were made."

They called Iglesias "and asked if what was an indictment of a former Democratic official was going to happen before election day," he continues. "Well now, that seems perfectly okay to me, if they do that."

The fact that Iglesias was fired shortly after the phone calls in question is not brought up by anyone on the Fox News panel.

but, wait, it gets worse...

Fellow panelist Mara Liasson of NPR later concedes, "Ethics experts down the line say that elected officials are not supposed to inquire about ongoing cases."

"Why?" exclaims Barnes in reply. "That's nonsense! Total nonsense!"

to avoid even the whiff of partisan pressure, members of congress and those in the various agencies of the executive branch who are not officially involved in a case, should keep their bloody noses out... why would you even want to risk the APPEARANCE of coercion...?

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments